No. 2 Kats march on at CUSA tourney

Wednesday, March 11

Huntsville, Ala.

8:00 PM

22-10,13-7CUSA

NM State

16-16,8-12CUSA

New Mexico St.

Sam Houston

Kashie Natt, left, and Damon Nicholas Jr. run up the court against NM State at the CUSA Championships

No. 2 Kats march on at CUSA tourney

3/12/2026 12:11:00 AM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — Second-seeded Sam Houston made the key plays in pivotal moments to avoid the upset bug with a 69-61 victory over No. 10 NM State in the quarterfinals of the CUSA Championships at Propst Arena on Wednesday night.

The Bearkats (22-10) will now face the winner of Thursday's quarterfinal matchup between No. 3 Western Kentucky and No. 6 Kennesaw State on Friday at 2 p.m. This is the second time in three years since moving to CUSA that Sam Houston has advanced to the semifinals.

CUSA Defensive Player of the Year Kashie Natt had a monster game with a team-high 17 points, 16 rebounds and two steals, marking his second consecutive double-double and eighth on the season. Freshman Jacobe Coleman had 15 points, Veljko Ilic finished with 13 and CUSA Sixth Man of the Year Jacob Walker scored 12 despite being in foul trouble most of the night.

Sam Houston led 37-26 at the half, but as expected, the Aggies (16-16) refused to go away.

Former Bearkat Anthony Wrzeszcz banked in a 3-pointer and NM Mexico got a three-point play on the next possession to cut the lead to 45-40. Ilic scored to push the lead back to seven, and it was a battle from there.

Whenever the Aggies looked like they were going to pull within a possession, Sam Houston used an offensive board to get a second-chance basket. A big one came when Natt put back a thundering two-handed dunk 61-53 at the 5:42 mark before Walker was fouled and made two free throws to make it a 10-point game.

The Aggies went on a run to cut it to 63-57 when Ilic was fouled and made a free throw. The Bearkats got a defensive stop on the other end, and Walker was fouled with 47 seconds on the clock as he made both free throws to wrap it up.

The victory evened the season series with the Aggies after NM State took the conference opener 87-78 in Las Cruces, New Mexico on Dec. 21. That game Sam Houston fell behind early and never recovered, but that wasn't the case Wednesday.

The Bearkats jumped out to a 20-7 lead thanks to a 7-0 run that started with a pair of free throws by Po'Boigh King, who missed the final two games of the regular season with a back injury. Coleman then drilled a 3 and followed with a jumper in the paint at the 13:03 mark.

Sam Houston fell into a little offensive funk after that.

The Aggies took advantage of a 1-for-9 shooting stretch by the Bearkats to pull within 22-15. Sam Houston managed just a free throw from both Nash and Ilic but put up a tough defensive front of its own, keeping NM State from scoring for nearly four minutes.

A steal by Ilic and fastbreak dunk by CJ Beaumont ended the Bearkats' cold streak. Coleman followed with a layup off another defensive stop as Sam Houston pushed its lead to 28-15.

Natt buried a 3 in the right corner to make it 35-22 with just over two minutes left in the half to help the Kats take a double-digit lead into the break.